DENVER, October 7, 2013 – The Regional Transportation District (RTD) and the northwest area stakeholders received an interim update today from the Northwest Area Mobility Study team on progress that included preliminary capital cost and ridership results for the FasTracks transit options between Denver and Longmont. The study team led by HNTB was contracted by RTD to provide an objective analysis of transit options for the northwest area which include commuter rail and bus rapid transit.

Capital costs and ridership numbers are just two of more than 40 criteria that will be evaluated in the study.

“We still have a lot of work to do to evaluate all of the benefits and impacts of the alternatives under consideration. We need to collectively understand the full picture in order to develop consensus on the best path forward for the northwest area,” said Chris Quinn, RTD project manager for the Northwest Area Mobility Study.

The Northwest Area Mobility Study began in spring 2013 with a goal of developing consensus between RTD and northwest area stakeholders. The study is analyzing a set of transit alternatives that could bring commuter rail and/or other transit improvements to northwest communities sooner than current projections for the completion of the Northwest Rail Line to Longmont.

RTD and stakeholders agreed in July to evaluate constructing the Northwest Rail Line in phased segments. The first would extend the line to Broomfield from its current end-of-line at 71st Avenue and Lowell Boulevard in Westminster (being constructed as part of the Eagle P3 project and scheduled to open in 2016). The second segment would reach from Broomfield to Louisville. The third continues from Louisville to Boulder, and the final would extend from Boulder to Longmont. The study partners also agreed to evaluate another rail option – which would build out from North Metro Rail Line’s endpoint at Colorado Highway 7 to Longmont.

According to the interim update, the preliminary capital cost estimates and ridership ranges for the Northwest Rail segments and the North Metro extension are:

The study team will now move on to further refine the rail options and assess how well they perform among the more than 40 different evaluation criteria including economic development potential, cost/benefit, environmental impacts, and more.

The study team also provided a progress update on its work to develop and evaluate potential arterial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines. While the BRT lines would likely serve different markets and travel patterns than rail, they could improve mobility and access to transit in the Northwest area.

RTD and stakeholders have asked the consultant team to focus its analysis on six potential BRT corridors including: Colorado Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont; South Boulder Road; Colorado Highway 7; U.S. 287; Colorado Highway 42; and 120th Avenue. The study team will work with RTD and stakeholders in October and November to develop plans for these corridors and assess them against the study’s evaluation criteria by the end of the year. Preliminary projections for capital costs and ridership are:

Entities participating in the study are 36 Commuting Solutions and North Area Transportation Alliance; the cities of Arvada, Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, Superior and Westminster; Boulder County; Colorado Department of Transportation, the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the University of Colorado–Boulder.

FasTracks is RTD’s voter-approved transit expansion program to build 122 miles of commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, add 21,000 new parking spaces, redevelop Denver Union Station and redirect bus service to better connect the eight-county District. For more information on FasTracks, visit www.rtd-fastracks.com.
Significant analysis still needed to complete study